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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Tires Retired

At the end of the 2016 autocross season, I can say that one set of tires lasted every event, and two of them look good for next year too. Tires are my biggest expense for autocross, and it's still cheaper than doing serious track racing or buying a NASCAR team for $100,000,000! On the other hand, a full year of autocross and etc. for the price of 4 good tires = AWESOME!

Tire #1 was mostly used on the back of the FIAT, and there is plenty of tread left in the middle. No major wear on the edges, good to go for next year!

Plenty of tread, this tire will do for next year

Tire number two is the other rear tires, and in the photo below you can clearly see the triangle molded into the tire that is a wear indicator. Plenty of wear left on this one!

No wear down to the triangle, so this one should be good!

Number three below is from the front of the car, and that band in the middle is showing uneven wear. The outer grooves are also way more worn on the right than the left, so this tire may or may not be good for next year. Ideally I'd flip it on the rim, so that the left/right wear would even out in the future.

A lot more wear on this one, more wear on the right than the left

Below is an example of what I found on both front tires, the top layer of tread has a hole worn through. For safety reasons I'm going to replace these two next year. Getting a full year out of half these Bridgestone RE71R tires was reasonable. Overall I drove in about 12 different autocross events, and they ranged from 4 runs per day to as many as probably 12 in the few events where I had a co-driver also driving them. Add on to that tire torture a couple of driving on a track events, and a couple thousand miles driving to and from events with these wheels on, and there you have it.

Ouch, just to the left of my thumb there is a hole in the outer tread. No sign of the triangle on these last two.

No matter what kind of car or truck you drive, take the time to check your tire tread once in a while, and keep safe out there!